Big Questions For The Housing Market In 2017

Any analysis of the housing market this year involved lack of available homes. MarketWatch asks, will the inventory shortage, especially at the entry level, ease up in 2017?

Probably not. Citing insight from Trulia, inventory of starter and trade-up homes recently experienced one of the biggest drops in years. But, the chief economist for NAHB says that overall housing starts will rise 10 percent next year, and that single-family home construction will gain momentum.

MarketWatch explored answers to a few other questions about the state of the housing market next year, including one about the return that first-time buyers.

It will take at least a few more years for “confidence and growth” to get the “bad taste” from the crisis out of people’s mouths, said Chris Prescott, a Redfin real estate agent in the Twin Cities. “There’s a lot of people scared of the housing market and a lot of people have decided to be long-term renters.”